1. Introduction:

Urban agriculture could be considered to include primary food production and
distribution activities that take place anywhere within the fringe of an urban center. I
would include backyard gardening in the definition. This necessarily admits a wide variety
of enterprises, and reflects the great diversity of location, scale, participants, and
motives that define urban agriculture as it is practiced in the world today. It also means
that a "typical" urban farmer probably does not exist.

Whatever it is, it is focused on the idea of cities feeding people; producing food for
people to eat, but also feeding the human spirit and thereby improving a city's social
fabric. This is by no means a new idea.

"Space with power. What words could better describe a garden ? The space is
self evident. The power, they say, no man has ever fully measured. It is a wonderful
combination of sun, rain, and the invisible forces of the soil. This power is all ready to
be turned on. All it needs is men who are skilful enough to guide it." (Williams,
1911, pp1.).

This quotation, as much as any could, concisely sums up the potential for urban
agriculture to contribute to the nourishment of the people inhibiting cities and the
challenge this potential entails. Dora Williams wrote from the perspective of a woman
living in New England at the turn of the century. She was concerned with schools and the
positive role of gardens in the education and development of children as good citizens who
would contribute to society. But she also recognized that the values in gardening extended
beyond children and simply producing food.

2. Location, Scale, and Diversity:

Urban agriculture can be found in developed industrialized countries, Eastern Europe,
and throughout the developing world. It is an activity that is shared by more than 200
million people (Mougeot, 1994), who undertake food production to satisfy the same set of
basic needs, and who share many of the same challenges. It is also a common feature that
the practice of urban agriculture has been growing during the past two decades, and
already makes a significant contribution to the food requirements of cities.

Some might think that urban agriculture is a fringe activity of interest only to the
poorest and those facing impending malnutrition. While it may be of most immediate
interest to them, there is ample evidence that it is practiced by people throughout the
income distribution (Smit et al , 1996), Smit (1996), Salm (1997)). Another misconception
is that it is an archaic pastime, peculiar to those who have migrated from rural farming
to urban centers. In developing countries, this is not the case, (Smit et al. (1996,
Mougeot, (1994)). At least in North America, it is the children of the postwar era, a
generation removed from the farm, who are largely responsible for the growth in urban
agriculture here.

The practitioners of urban agriculture produce virtually every food product that you
might find in a rural setting: all types of fruits, vegetables, grains, and livestock
products. This is because these farmers produce at a variety of scales, and live among
diverse urban populations with a variety of needs. The diversity in production reflects
the range of conditions that exist within the urban fringe at various locations. In terms
of scale, the land base can range from a few square feet up to hundreds of hectares,
although urban farms are more likely to be small and intensive. The larger parcels are
more likely to be found in the fringe of large North American cities. Technically, these
are urban farmers, and they face many of the same constraints, and have some of the same
opportunities as their smaller counterparts (Blobaum, (1987), Wilkinson, & Van Seters,
(1997)).

3. Benefits and the Status of Urban Agriculture

The reported benefits of urban agriculture can be seen at several levels: the
individual, the family, society and its institutions. These are summarized below.

poor become nutritionally self-reliant (child nutrition)

increases income and promotes economic development

more livable urban environment - ecologically sustainable

better public health

fosters social participation

reduce landscape and waste management costs

better matter/energy cycling and conservation

Developing countries:

In the case of the developing world, it is clear that urban agriculture has been
receiving increasing attention and support during the past 20 years, and experienced a
period of rapid growth during the 1980's. Even so, according to Smit et al., (1996), in
most countries urban agriculture has been underrated by both local governments and
international development agencies.

The past success and future potential that proponents see for urban agriculture is most
immediately related to meeting economic and nutritional needs, primarily in the lower
income strata. It has been viewed as an effective strategy to respond to the urgent needs
of the urban poor. A subsistence level farmer producing in the city substitutes for food
that must be imported to the city, sometimes at a substantially lower cost. In this case,
when the majority of the city dweller`s income is spent on food, it is understandable that
the economic impact on the individual can be dramatic: higher and more stable income, plus
improved food security.

Simply having access to fresh produce and livestock products, combined with the
diversity of output usually found in urban agriculture directly translates into improved
nutrition for the producer, their family, and the community to which they sell their
surplus. When surplus production is sold, the activity also contributes to improving
income distribution, especially in those cases where women are the primary producer.

Urban farmers also produce other amenities of benefit to the larger community. They
provide an outlet through which to recycle community wastes. The existence of city farmers
throughout an urban landscape creates a decentralized waste handling system that
effectively converts a waste problem into a valuable resource. This can reduce waste
handling costs, and related health problems. The simple act of farming also contributes by
reducing air pollution, and improving the visual space of the community.

Developed countries:

Since the 1970's, many of the same preconditions for an increase in urban agriculture
have been found to a greater or lesser extent in most of the large cities of the developed
world: a crumbling urban core, combined with resource outflows, increasing urban poverty,
malnutrition, social network decay, and market system failure. But, the interest in urban
agriculture has even deeper roots.

The resurgence in urban agriculture only underlines the fact that there was a time when
significant amounts of food were produced in cities. But, their capacity was progressively
lost during the twentieth century. It was lost through the effects of development pressure
emanating from the city core, combined with the remarkable progress in the productivity of
industrialized agriculture. At the same time, there were significant developments in
processing and transportation technology to deliver cheap food, reliably to market, and a
mass marketing apparatus to help shape demand.

These developments made it more "efficient" to move food production away from
the city, commodify it, and deliver it through what has become an increasingly
centralized, harmonized, integrated, and capital intensive global industry. While it costs
consumers in excess of 50% of disposable income in many developing countries to purchase
food (Mougeot, 1994), the system delivers food to the developed world at about 15% of
disposable income. It is designed to cater to the needs of a mobile, modern, and
relatively wealthy population of consumers. In North America, the system generates in
excess of 10,000 new food products per year in order to satisfy "consumer
needs".

However, some of the wealthiest nations (e.g. Japan and the Netherlands), have led the
modern development of urban agriculture. And, it has been some of the relatively well off
in these and other developed countries who have helped to create the resurgence. In spite
of the fact that those participating in urban agriculture do derive an economic benefit,
they are also motivated by needs that "the system" is unable to satisfy.

Urban Agriculture in Canada:

There has been considerable grass-roots interest in urban farming and gardening in
Canada's major cities for nearly two decades. Yet, at an institutional level, this
interest has not extended much past local city government. With some exceptions,
provincial and federal governments and the academic research community have had little
interest.

There is no mention of urban agriculture within Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada's
recent strategy document for Environmentally Sustainable Agriculture (AAFC, 1997), and it
has not been addressed seriously in any policy document in the past ten years. This is not
entirely surprising given that urban agriculture is closely related to "Food
Policy"; Canada does not have a food policy. Another possible explanation is that, as
practiced in Canada, community gardening is almost entirely organic. At least officially,
governments have been careful to limit their recognition of organic farming to simply
identifying it as just another method of farming, and thus not grant it any special
status.

Research on urban agriculture in Canada is scant. A recent search of the federal
government's Canadian Inventory of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Canadian Technology
Network, and Food Net produced no research citations related to urban agriculture or
farming. The result is that the extent of activity in Canada is largely unknown, and most
information concerns the situation in Canada's three largest cities. Montréal has nearly
7000 plots in 75 community gardens, in Vancouver, there are over 2000 plots in 21
operating community gardens (Connolly, 1997), while the Metro Toronto area probably has
about 3000 plots in 20 locations. In all three cities, the municipal government provides
supports of various kinds, with minimal provincial participation.

Yet, it would seem that there is a significant potential for urban agriculture to
contribute to the welfare of Canadians, and justify more institutional support. The need
is there, considering that numerous surveys during the past decade have indicated a
growing concern among consumers about the ability of the food system to deliver an
adequate food supply (Henning, 1994). There are about 2 million Canadians using food
banks. But are there the resources to expand urban agriculture ?

Most cities in Canada probably have ample land available to support the production of
most of the vegetables and fruit needed to feed their citizens, without unduly encroaching
on public spaces. As an encouragement, consider that Hong Kong produces nearly 50% of its
own vegetables and most of its own poultry (Rauber, P. 1997). A city of 500,000 would
require on the order of 3000 acres (1250 ha). That is about twice the size of the land
holding at the Macdonald Campus of McGill University in the suburbs of Montréal.

There is available labour. Urban farming already accounts for some of the time of the
tens of thousands of back yard and community gardeners. More of this time is available.
But Canada also has approximately 1.6 million unemployed in addition to the underemployed.
To put this into context, there are about 275 thousand farms in Canada, according to the
1996 Census of Agriculture (Statistics Canada). Official agricultural output is produced
by about half a million people.

Could this type of agriculture be economic ? Without more research, it is difficult to
be certain, but there are some who believe that sustainable community food systems can be
cost competitive with industrial food systems (Wilkinson, and Van Seters, 1997). What is
known is that farmers only lay claim to about 20% of the retail dollar spent by consumers.
The rest is spent on processing and marketing. Beyond this economic incentive, what is
certainly needed in Canada, as elsewhere, are positive policies to support and promote
urban agriculture.

4. The Role of Governments and Other Institutions

"In the affairs of men, there always appears to be a need for at least two
things simultaneously .... freedom and order." (E.F. Schumacher, 1974, pp53)

Various government agencies and NGO's have been active for many years to promote urban
agriculture, primarily in developing countries (e.g. FAO, World Bank, UNICEF, Oxfam,
USAID, IDRC, UNDP, Asian Development Bank). However, while the collective level of effort
has been helpful, it has also been inadequate. There is much more to do (Mougeot, 1994).

Governments should play a role to encourage and support urban agriculture. Their role
primarily can be considered to be on the side of providing order. It is within an orderly
institutional framework that these farmers can develop and grow. But, there needs to be a
balance with sufficient freedom, to allow the energy, resourcefulness, and entrepreneurial
potential of these farmers to be expressed.

Order is required in the flows of inputs, outputs, and the relations farmers have with
markets, either formal or informal. In most situations, access to the inputs of farming is
impaired. Land may be of poor quality, tenure insecure, or inappropriate rents may be
charged. Credit may not be available. Seeds may be in short supply, be of inappropriate
variety, or poor quality. On the output side, marketing outlets for production may be
limited, and poorly coordinated. The consequence is that prices and incomes are highly
unstable, and any benefits will be short lived.

Probably the most important way governments can help is in facilitating the flow of
information: encouraging farmers to form self-organized groups (co-operatives), form
partnerships with public and private interests, and supporting research and technology
transfer. Poor information and inadequate knowledge are the leading causes of the problems
associated with urban farming.
To be really effective agents in promoting urban agriculture, governments and institutions
simply have to help create an environment that empowers farmers to unleash the power of
gardens to improve social well being and the quality of urban life.

References:

AAFC. 1997. Agriculture in harmony with nature: Strategy for environmentally
sustainable agriculture and agri-food development in Canada. Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada, Ottawa.